AN OLD KIND OF CHRISTIANITY: A HISTORICAL THEOLOGICAL COMPARISON BETWEEN ALBRECHT RITSCHL AND BRIAN MCLAREN

Introduction
On Human Nature and Sin
On The Person and Work of Christ
On Salvation
Conclusion

This is a short series based on a 30-page paper I wrote for my ThM in Historical Theology. I set out to compare the theology of Brian McLaren to Albrecht Ritschl, a German liberal theologian who was the successor of Friederick Schleiermacher, the father of modern day liberalism. The reason I chose to do this type of theological comparison is because I want to bring the lens of historical theology to bear on contemporary theological discourse. People have said McLaren is a liberal theologian along the lines of Schleiermacher, and I wanted to see if that’s true. Here are the fruits of that labor.

In 2001 Brian McLaren, a little known pastor author just north of Washington D.C., ((McLaren has since retired from pastoring and been named one of the “25 Most Influential Evangelicals In America,” Time Magazine, February 7, 2005.)) began influencing street-level theological conversations within evangelicalism with his landmark book, A New Kind of Christian. Through the book’s two protagonists—Pastor Dan and Neo— McLaren took the reader on a redefining journey through evangelical’s core theological doctrines. God, creation, sin, Christ, the cross, resurrection, and judgment were all addressed and countered with alternative possibilities that formed the foundation for a broader conversation known as the Emerging Church. It was also a reflection of his own spiritual journey, one that culminated in “a quest for honesty, for authenticity, and for a faith that made more sense to me and to others…learning that there is a kind of faith that runs deeper than mere beliefs.” ((Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity (New York, HarperOne, 2010,) 6, 8.))

Many who entered this conversation found resonance with McLaren’s quest, finding solace in the questions and alternative answers offered by McLaren in response to what many perceived to be stogy, stuffy, stale theology that had outlived its lifecycle. While the New Kind of Christian trilogy simply offered possibilities, McLaren’s latest book, A New Kind of Christianity, suggests concrete alternatives to the historic Christian faith.

A New Kind of Christianity, the culmination of McLaren’s work, is a theological tour de force that continues the Emerging Church’s theological challenge, while offering theological alternatives in the process. Now rather than simply translating the historic Christian faith into a present postmodern context, McLaren insists “we need a new way of believing, not simply new answers to the same old questions, but a new set of questions. We are acknowledging that the Christianities we have created deserve to be reexamined and deconstructed…so that our religious traditions can be seen for what they are…they are evolving, embodied, situated versions of the faith.” ((McLaren, New Kind of Christianity, 18, 27.)) Like others, McLaren has set out to construct a new, fresh, alternative Christianity.

Interestingly, however, there isn’t anything new about the main tenants of this newly constructed version of Christianity. Instead, the version of Christianity offered by the Emerging Church and its leaders is a repackaged form of other versions that have appeared throughout the historical progression of the story of Christian theology. McLaren’s newest theological missive to the church is no different. Though he believes a new kind of Christianity “is trying to be born among those of us who believe and follow Jesus Christ,” ((McLaren, New Kind of Christianity, 13.)) McLaren’s version of Christianity is an old one; specifically A New Kind of Christianity is a repackaged form of the Christian faith known as Ritschlianism, the theology of Albrect Ritschl, a German theologian who followed in the theological footsteps of Fredrick Schleiermacher, the father of modern-day liberalism ((Olson, The Story of Christian Theology (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1999), 542.))

Shortly after his death, Ritschl was said to have done “more than any other theologian to prepare the way for a fundamental and yet conservative reconstruction of the theology of the church.” ((Albert Temple Swing, The Theology of Albrect Ritschl (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1901), 1.)) Though perhaps not as well known as his predecessor, Schleiermacher, Ritschl has been a significant theological force within liberal Protestantism, having influenced a generation of Western theologians and theological movements through his theological reconstruction. He had a profound impact on Adolf von Harnack, who is credited with inaugurating the century-long Historic Jesus Movement. ((Livingston, James C. Modern Christian Thought, (New York: Macmillian Publishing Co., 1971.), 257, 258.)) Walter Rauschenbush, a Baptist preacher from upstate New York, drew upon the theological themes of Ritschl while founding the so-called Social Justice Movement. ((Livingston, Modern Christian Thought, 262.)) One also finds elements of Ritschl in Paul Tillich, one of the four most influential theologians of the 20th century who helped give rise to Christian existentialism. ((Livingston, Modern Christian Thought, 356-370.))

In the wake of these 19th and 20th century theologians is the 21st century voice we find in McLaren. Because of the nature and influence of the contemporary emerging church movement in general and McLaren in particular, it is necessary to engage his writings and perform a comparative theological analysis. Currently, very few are placing the writings of these leaders under the lens of historical theology; as of yet not a single historical theologian has engaged McLaren’s newest theological work. Therefore, this examination will explore McLaren’s writings, with special emphasis on A New Kind of Christianity, in light of the theology of Ritschl.

This theological comparison will map the theological similarities between Ritschl and McLaren in three key theological categories: sin, Christology, and salvation. First, this examination will explore how they view humanity’s problem through their view on sin. Second, it will explore why they say Christ was necessary and how our sin problem is solved through His works. Finally, we will explore how we find salvation and from what we are saved in the first place. In the end, this comparative analysis will reveal McLaren’s Christianity to not be new at all, but rather a repackaged form of theological liberalism that reigned in the early 20th century. His is indeed an old kind of Christianity.